11 Questions from a newbie

[rookiemariner]

Hi all. I am new to this forum and new to the hobby. I have done much reading and still have several questions. Any help is much appreciated.
I bought my wife a "walmart special" 55 gallon tank for Christmas. It came with heater, hang on back filter and 2 light hoods.
We have set up the tank with a crushed seashell substrate and a "dual" air pump w/ hose and stones.
Livestock includes 2 blue-yellow tailed damsels 1" each,
1 2" neon damsel,
1 large hermit crab,
4 small hermits,
5# Live Rock and added a bacteria starter as per directions at 1/2 tsp daily for one week.
The rest of the tank decorations are artificial ( coral, plants etc.)
Tank is 4 weeks old and ammonia just zeroed out 1 week ago.
nitrite levels are through the roof ( darker than the highest color on my test chart 3.3-33 mg/l).
PH is at 8.6
Salinity is at 1.022
Temp is at 76F.
Been feeding flakes once daily (breakfast) and rotating frozen blood worms and brine shrimp once daily (dinner).
This week we started noticing brown algae? with short hairs growing on the glass and some of the decorations.
Is this good or bad ?
Is this from the bacteria starter?
Larger neon damsel replaced a small blue damsel that perished we think from a combo of ammonia spike and an aggressive yellow tailed damsel. It has done very well up until a couple of days ago we noticed that it starts losing it's black color, darting, scratching itself on the live rock and jerking around in the bubbles. It seems to have recovered its black color in the morning when we turn the lights back on. But by evening it is almost transparent and not acting right.
Is this good or bad ?
What could be the problem?
Will it be ok as soon as the tank is fully cycled?
What are the symptoms of Ich disease?
Can we add another fish, shrimp, star, cleaner, sucker yet?
When should we add a protein skimmer?
I read somewhere that after tank cycles completely that a 40-50% or as high as 100% water change is in order. I don't understand this. It seems that we have had to wait 30+ days for the tank to cycle, why start all over with brand new water? Should the filter also be cleaned at this point?
Why won't this eliminate all of the "good" bacteria that we have been "breeding" to cycle the tank?
We are trying very hard not to be impatient but it is hard... we want more livestock.

 

[col]

11 questions - 1 answer
Your tank is cycling. The bacteria to turn deadly ammonia (for tank inhabitants) and nitrites into safer nitrates has not developed.
When nitrites have dropped to zero you will be on your way.
Don't add anything else. The fish are under stress and dying because of the high levels of toxxic aammomnia (now gone) and nitrites.

 

[rookiemariner]

Thanks for that answer. We will wait for the nitrite levels to subside before adding livestock.
2 more questions:
1) Should we clean the brown hairy algae? off of the glass and decorations?
2) Are we maybe overfeeding ?

 

[stacyt]

I would cut out/back the feeding. I only feed my fish every other day, and they seem to be fine. The damsels should eat on the algae growth.
As far as the damsel scratching/rubbing he is probably coming down with ich. Do you see anything that looks like little white spots on him?
You may also want to consider removing the airstones, and add a couple of powerheads for water movement.
Your tank has not completed it's cycle yet. You really shouldn't add anything else for a while, except maybe for some LR.
Do a little more reading on this board. There is a lot of improvements that could be made on that setup, such as removing the crushed coral, and useing live sand (LS).
What type of filter are you using? For power filters with cartridges I recommend cleaning ounce a week, and replacing the pads about ounce a month. If add more LR, LS, powerheads, and good skimer you could just get rid of the filter.

 

[rookiemariner]

Stacy,
Thanks so much for your help.
We will cut back on the feeding.
NO NOT ICH !!! ANYTHING BUT THAT !!!
We do see tiny white spots on the neon, is it possible that the high nitrite levels are causing him to act this way? What are the other symptoms of ich? If it is ich, where did it come from? What action should we take ?
We will look into adding powerheads, but why remove the airstones? We like the asthetic appeal of the bubbles. Can this be harmful? I have read on this site that air stones are not used in saltwater aquariums. Why is that?
We are definitely going to add more LR, TODAY!!
Will definitely do more reading here.
We don't have crushed coral. It is crushed seashells originally from the ocean and then in my sister-in-laws marine aquarium, although it was torn down over 2 years ago. We washed it thoroughly with a 10% bleach water solution prior to setting up the tank. Can we add some live sand to this ?
Our filter has a strainer about 3 " from the bottom, hangs on the back of the tank with intake in the center and 2 outputs on either side with 2 carbon filters. Would you clean the filters weekly before tank completely cycles? I thought this is where the good bacteria set up?
Sorry for all the questions, just not understanding it all yet.

 

[stacyt]

As far as treating for ich you may want to post in the disease forum, and read the faq thats posted there. You may want to consider removing all the livestock from this tank for right now, until the tank finishes cycling.
My understanding with the airstones is that it causes excess saltcreep. Just more work to cleanup, and they really don't do anything for the system.
If you add LR that is uncured your tank will cycle again. Uncured LR will cause an ammonia spike. For this reason I would recommend removing the livestock.
There are a lot of mixed opinions on adding LS on top of other materials. I would recommend just removing the crush seashells myself.
As far as cleaning the pads what you can do is drain some of the tank water into a bucket, and clean the pads in there. Put the pads back into the filter when youre done.

 

[rookiemariner]

Thanks to those that have tried to help, but no-one has attempted to answer all of my questions. This is pretty sad. I am a newbie with specific questions and I guess that all of you on this site are so overwhelmed with knowledge that you let some simple questions from a newbie slip past your all-knowing weathervane because maybe "everyone should know that". I am a member of several different sites (such as this) although in different arenas and I must say, " Shame on you" with the HEAVY traffic volume , to not have ALL of my simple newbie questions answered today is ... well... disappointing.
For anyone who is interested, I went out and bought $194.16 worth of power jets, and live fiji rock, and nitrate tester, and ich away or some such nonsense, and I spent the last several hours rebuilding my beautiful tank into an even better looking and more crowded tank and watching my livestock swim upside down and backwards and some are looking psycho and OTHERS ARE LOOKING BETTER. I am prepared to go this alone and figure out what works and doesn't, but it would be nice to get more posts here to help me with opinions etc. One opinion from the WWW help's but ... a concensus would be more helpful. If you are lazy about posting, then shame on you.
I now have a 55 g that is cycling. Ammonia at zero a wk ago.
Nitrites are through the roof and fish are freaking.
w/ 20# LR ( 5# original and VERY red and soft (slimy) which competitor told me today was "undesirable" ? help ! Competitor told me was " very good" roflmao!?!?!?!?!
seashell substrate
1 large neon damsel
2 sm blue / yellow tail damsels
1 lg hermit
4 sm hermits
Lots of fake pretties ( some r growing brown)
why am I telling you this ?

 

[col]

It is pretty sad to me that someone puts fish in a tank that isn't cycled. Shame on them!!!
Seems pretty sad to me that someone spends $$$$$ without doing any research first.

 

[s_l_pugh]

It is great that you have started a new hobby. It is just that, a hobby. I started my sw tank in 1994 and I still feel like a newbe.
It is difficult to be patient the first few weeks. Keep at, do not give up too easily, or become frustrated so easily.
I don't feel I have enough knowledge to give any information. Although, I have been at it for several years, (lost most of my fish), have made a cross-country move, and still have two of the original fish I started with.
If there is anything you would like an opinion on, please let me know.
Stick with it. It is a great hobby.

 

[rookiemariner]

Thanks JW and SL. Your replies are much appreciated. And I must apologize for the last post. I was having a rough night.

 

[true perc]

What you shoudl do is read some books! reading books tells you how to properly set up and keep your tank running. If you read books you will know more about the hobby and you will like and your fish will much appreciate it.
Good Luck

 

[juddster]

hey rookie settle down... people here are just trying to help!! I think if you are looking for more direct answers to specific questions you should post them one at a time. good luck and be patient!!